Solomon is officially a 1st grader! On Monday he will join one of the first grade classes to finish out the school year. And he is very excited about the prospect of having friends in two hallways at the elementary school, the kindergarteners with whom he has spent the last 3 months, and the first graders with whom he will spend the next 5 months. He got to go yesterday to his new classroom for a visit, spent some time sitting in his new desk, and met some of his new classmates. As we were getting ready for bed last night he told me that his new teacher is really funny and that "everyone in first grade laughs a lot!" He will inaugurate his first day of gym class as a first grader on Monday...and as a first grader the gym classes get to go swimming! When I told him this news he laughed and clapped his hands while doing some version of his happy dance. I think that means he's excited to dive in!
I should give a little history as to how this decision was made. Solomon spent a year and a half in preschool in Grand Rapids, then spent a year in Young 5's (for those who aren't familiar, this is essentially kindergarten for kids with fall b-day's). This past fall he started kindergarten as planned in MI and when we moved to NY he picked up where he left off in kindergarten here. As the year progressed we were noticing that the work he was doing in class and his homework were duplicating what he already learned in young 5's. We brought this up with his teacher and through much discussion with her and the new principal in Fonda and some evaluation and testing of Solomon, it was decided that the best option for Solomon was to be placed into a first grade classroom for the remainder of the year. So, sooner than expected, we have a first grader in our midst!
